Tag: Home in Atlanta

Home in Atlanta – Day 141

Home in Atlanta

Day 141 – August 19, 2003 – Tuesday

Home in Atlanta. The final segment of the trip — Hawaii — starts tomorrow, August 20. Back from Hawaii on August 25.

We spent the day organizing information for the book and updating the website.

Today, I began sorting and filing the 500 pounds of brochures and information that we gathered over the past five months. Tomorrow will be a travel day — 10 1/2 hours from Atlanta to Honolulu.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

Home in Atlanta

Home in Atlanta – Day 140

Home in Atlanta

Day 140 – August 18, 2003 – Monday

Home in Atlanta. The final segment of the trip — Hawaii — will be August 20 to August 25.

We spent the day organizing information for the book and updating the website.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

Home in Atlanta

Home in Atlanta – Day 139

Home in Atlanta

Day 139 – August 17, 2003 – Sunday

Home in Atlanta. The final segment of the trip — Hawaii — will be August 20 to August 25.

We spent the day organizing information for the book and updating the website. We began collecting our thoughts about Pie today. See the Pie Report and the Pie Ratings.

We went over to visit Madison and her Mommy and Daddy this afternoon. Daddy Robert went wild at a toy store and bought Maddie all kinds of exciting new older girl toys.

One of the best things about traveling for the last five months was ignoring the newspapers, radio, and TV. It is so pleasant when you aren’t hearing all the bad news and the ridiculous politics that cause the Democrats to take positions directly opposite that of the Republicans and to say ridiculous things. It is amazing to me that the two-party system works, and it is so sad that just about everything has to be partisan.

Tonight I learned that 5.6 million living adult Americans have been in prison. That’s one in every 37 adults in the United States. If 2001 incarceration rates remain the same, about 6.6 percent of the people born in 2001 can expect to serve a prison sentence during their lifetimes. This compares with 5.2 percent of those born in 1991 and 1.9 percent of people born in 1974, according to the estimates in the study conducted by the United States Justice Department. These numbers do not even include those jailed — just those who went to a prison. How outrageous is this! As wonderful as our country is, we have real problems. I sincerely believe that we need strong gun control. When our forefathers said we should have the right to keep and bear arms, they had no idea that 7 percent of the children born the year Madison was born would grow up and go to prison.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

Home in Atlanta

Home in Atlanta – Day 138

Home in Atlanta

Day 138 – August 16, 2003 – Saturday

Home in Atlanta. The final segment of the trip — Hawaii — will be August 20 to August 25.

We spent the day organizing information for the book and updating the website.

I took the day off today. We went to see Kevin Costner’s “Open Range.” We went to the 4 pm show, and the theatre was full. We thought the movie was very good. Gave it an 8 on our 1-to-10 rating system.

Our favorite movies of all times are: Waiting for Guffman, Rudy, Hoosiers, American Graffiti, Something the Lord Made, Best in Show, The Big Chill, Braveheart, Brian’s Song, The Castle, A Christmas Story, City Slickers, The Commitments, Dead Poets Society, The Dish, Door to Door, Duets, Eddie and the Cruisers, Erin Brokovich, Father of the Bride, Field of Dreams, Forrest Gump, Frequency, The Full Monty, Ghost, Gone With the Wind, Good Morning Vietnam, Goodwill Hunting, The Graduate, Grease, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Hands on a Hardbody, I Am Sam, In America, It’s a Wonderful Life, Jagged Edge, Kinky Boots, Lean On Me, Les Miserables in Concert, Life is Beautiful, Little Miss Sunshine, Love Story, Meet the Parents, Michael, My Cousin Vinny, My Dog Skip, Mystic Pizza, National Lampoon’s Animal House, The Natural, Noel, October Sky, Pacific Heights, Paper Clips, Pay It Forward, Phenomenon, Pretty Woman, Primal Fear, The Pursuit of Happyness, Rain Man, Remember the Titans, Revenge of the Nerds, Risky Business, Rock, Rocky II, The Royal Tenenbaums, Saint Ralph, Seabiscuit, The Shawshank redemption, Shine, Simon Burch, The Sixth Sense, Sleepless in Seattle, Spitfire Grill, Stand By Me, Tender Mercies, Titanic, To Kill A Mockingbird, Unfaithful, The Usual Suspects, The Verdict, When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

Home in Atlanta – Day 137

Home in Atlanta

Day 137 – August 15, 2003 – Friday

Home in Atlanta. The final segment of the trip — Hawaii — will be August 20 to August 25.

We spent the day organizing information for the book and updating the web site. As part of this process, we reflected on the various aspects of the trip. When we began planning the trip, we established 10 Rules of the Road:

Rule #1 — See the real world. Stay off the interstate highways.

Rule #2 — Eat pie. Eat where the locals eat. Avoid franchised restaurants. “Slow food” rather than fast food.

Rule #3 — See the sights that others miss. No need to visit many theme parks.

Rule #4 — Plan to enjoy the unexpected. When something catches your eye, check it out.

Rule #5 — Try new things — new places, new people, new food, new experiences.

Rule #6 — Stop and smell the roses…or whatever. Don’t rush; enjoy the journey.

Rule #7 — Think local. Listen to local radio stations; read local papers; and watch local TV.

Rule #8 — Make the best of every situation, If it seems boring or ugly or wrong, look again.

Rule #9 — Be smart. Be safe. Be prepared. Exercise every day. Keep the gas tank full.

Rule #10 — Preserve the experience. Maintain a journal; keep records; and take a lot of photos.

We did a very good job of following these Rules. We primarily drove on two-lane roads, so we were able to see the “real world.” We ate where the locals eat, and we ate a lot of pie (181 pies in total). And the food was so good; we had only a few disappointing meals. We saw many sights that others miss. We most definitely enjoyed the unexpected. In fact, following tips from people we met along the way or checking out something that we just happened to see or learn about were among the most enjoyable experiences. We tried a lot of new things! We were “smart.” We absolutely preserved the experience — detailed notes on tape, hundreds of pounds of brochures and maps, and 13,884 photos thus far.

There is room for improvement, however. The trip took longer than originally planned, yet we didn’t really have the time to “stop and smell the roses” as we might have liked. To leisurely see all the places we went, one could spend a year-and-a-half or more on the road, and we just couldn’t spend that much time. While we thought local, we never had the time to listen to the radio, read the newspaper, or watch TV. We made the best of most situations — at least for the first half of the trip. Truth is, we got tired and a little lazy for the last 30 days or so. The web site was a very important part of the trip, but it really sapped our energy. The trip was also MUCH harder when Bozzie Jane was not along. It’s hard enough to drive and navigate and take photos, but the big loss when traveling alone is that you don’t have time to review the research and the brochures gathered along the way to make sure you see the best sights. And too much sightseeing time is eaten up with the work of travel.

There isn’t a lot that we will change when we do this again. We’ll try to improve on the areas that need improvement, but we’ll basically just try to live by the Rules of the Road. There are a few changes we’ll make on the preparation for the next trip, so I updated that web page accordingly.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.

Home in Atlanta – Day 136

Home in Atlanta

Day 136 – August 14, 2003 – Thursday

Home in Atlanta.

Miss Madison came over for a visit and dinner. What a cutie. She walks like a pro, and she’s speaking a few words. Madison’s mommy, Brittany, came too.

Boz fixed a GREAT Peach Mountain Pie for dessert tonight — an award winner! Aunt Wendy’s recipe.

Each day until the Hawaii segment is complete (August 20 to August 25), I will update the website with the progress for that day.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.